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The Bench and Bar Tennis competition will be held on grass at the Royal Sydney Golf Club, Kent Road, Rose Bay on Tuesday, 20 December 2016. The Hon Susan Crennan Cup will be awarded to the best and fairest female member in the tournament, while the Hon Bryan Beaumont Cup and the Barbour Cup will also be up for grabs. Download a flyer and registration form here.

The 24th Annual Bench & Bar v Solicitors Chess Match will be held at 6.00pm on Thursday, 24 November 2016 at Allens’ offices at level 28, Deutsche Bank Building, 126 Phillip St. Anyone interested in playing please contact Ken Pryde on 9373 7456 or kenpryde@siranthonymason.com.au. It’s a fun evening, with refreshments after the match, played over about 20 boards and catering from casual to highly ranked players – new faces (and spectators) welcome!

The Australian Bar Association's Advanced Trial Advocacy Intensive will be held in Sydney on 23-27 January 2017. The course is filling up and there are only a handful of places left. Applications close 18 November 2016. The coaching faculty will include Federal Court and Supreme Court judges, Australian and international counsel from New Zealand, South Africa, England and Malaysia as well as professional performance coaches with expertise in voice, movement and impact. Download a flyer and a registration brochure.

John Webster, former barrister and a founding member of EPLA, died on 9 November. His funeral will be held on Thursday, 17 November at 2.00pm at St James Anglican Church, Cnr Phillip and King Street. A celebration of John’s life will follow at North Bondi Surf Club at 4.30pm. In lieu of flowers donations to the Surf Life Saving New South Wales.

The chief judge of the Land and Environment Court has issued Practice Note – Strata Schemes Development Proceedings, which commences on 30 November 2016, and applies to proceedings brought in Classes 2 and 3 of the court’s jurisdiction pursuant to the Strata Schemes Development Act 2015. It was published in the NSW Government Gazette on 11 November 2016. View the practice note here.

A well-appointed full-sized room (3,000 shares in CCL) is available for purchase on Second Floor Wentworth Chambers. With an attractive fit-out and windows to the light well, it provides a high standard of accommodation in chambers that have been fully renovated in the last 12 months. It includes extensive built-in shelving and furniture.

There are seventeen members of the Floor including two senior counsel and a number of senior juniors with strong practices in a variety of jurisdictions.

The sale price is $180,000. Reasonable offers will be considered. All enquiries and expressions of interest will be dealt with in the strictest confidence and should be directed to: Rhonda Dalton, ph: 9232 4466 or via email: rhonda.dalton@wentworthchambers.com.au

A large room (1 and 1/3 or 4000 shares in CCL) on the eastern side of Second Floor Wentworth Chambers is available for purchase. It would most suit a silk, aspiring silk or senior junior, with or without a PA, or else may be capable of subdivision into 2 smaller rooms.

The room has extensive “Rosewood” colour shelving and cupboards, and a Mitsubishi air-conditioner. There is also a large leather-topped desk with matching leather office chair, lounge and lounge chairs.

The floor is fully networked to CCL, uses its VOIP telephone system, has a WiFi connection, and has its own website and electronic diary management by the Clerk. The floor has recently had a refurbishment of its common areas. There is also easy access from the floor to the Bar Library.
The floor currently comprises 2 silks and 16 juniors, including 2 readers. Members practise in most jurisdictions and areas of practice. Floor members work together harmoniously.

The room may be inspected by prior arrangement with the clerk on 9232 4466 or clerk2@wentworthchambers.com.au. Price is available upon application and all enquiries will be dealt in the strictest confidence.

Prof Michael Coper has had a distinguished career as a constitutional lawyer and educationalist, from influencing a dramatic change in the law on s 92 of the Constitution, to conceiving the pioneering Oxford Companion to the High Court of Australia, to urging law schools, nationally and internationally, to embrace a pervasive ethos of law reform, social justice and public service. The ANU is celebrating Michael’s career with a conference in his honour with over 20 eminent speakers ranging over new and different ways of thinking about and doing law and legal education, from the vagaries of legal doctrine, to the realities of the judicial process, to the insights we can draw from biography and imagery, to the purposes and values that underpin the role of law schools. Further information about the conference and registration can be found here.

A great opportunity has arisen on Fourth Floor Selborne Chambers to license a large (1.5) light-filled room with Phillip Street frontage. Friendly floor, very reasonable floor fees, available 1 December 2016 until January 2018, or longer by negotiation.

In late November and early December the Australian Tax Office will hold a series of webinars for legal practitioners on the ATO Business Portal, the legal database and capital gains tax fundamentals.

Monday, 28 November 2016 at 2:00pm – 3:00pm AEDT: Request for copies of clients tax documents online – for Legal Practitioners. Presented by Craig Lawrance from the ATO’s Service Delivery, the session will provide Legal Practitioners with information on how their firm can now request copies of clients’ tax documents via the ATO Business Portal.

Tuesday, 6 December 2016 at 2:00pm – 3:00pm AEDT: ATO.gov.au and the Legal Database - for Legal Practitioners. Presented by Martin Pook and Jo Wilson from the Tax Counsel Network, the session will provide Legal Practitioners with an overview of: the ato.gov.au website and the legal database; the 'layered approach' project (which focuses on connecting the users with the required level of information they are seeking); and what users of these sites can expect in the future. The session is designed for Legal Practitioners and there will be an opportunity during this time to have discussion and provide feedback.

Tuesday, 13 December 2016 at 12:00pm - 1:00pm: CGT Fundamentals – for Legal Practitioners
Basic CGT awareness for Legal Practitioners. Presented by Assistant Commissioner Debbie Boyd from the ATO’s Tax Counsel Network. The webinar will discuss CGT and provide an overview of some common transactions where practitioners may be asked to provide advice. Such as: disposing of assets; wills and administration of deceased estates; family law property settlements; litigation and compensation receipts; and in addition, the session will highlight how (your clients’) record keeping impacts on most common legal transactions.

For more information about these and other webinars, visit the ATO's Let's Talk page. Hint: the registration links for individual seminars can be found down the right side of the page.

The New Barristers’ committee would like to invite you to attend the November breakfast catch-up at Silks Coffee Shop tomorrow, Tuesday 15 November. Drop in for a short (or long) period of time from 8:00am – 9:30am. Kylie Nomchong SC and Kate Eastman SC will be hosting the breakfast.
For RSVP purposes, if you think you might be able to attend please send an email to Glenn Fredericks

In response to feedback received from users of the Find a Barrister (FAB) facility, the Bar Association has introduced a new search field which allows users to identify barristers who have a curriculum vitae available on their profiles. Users will be able to search FAB by this criteria alone or in conjunction with other criteria. Members who wish to add their curriculum vitae to their individual profiles will need to upload a PDF version of their CV (see how to details below).

How to add your cv to your FAB profile - It only takes a few minutes

Log in to the members' section of the Bar Association website, click on MEMBER SIGN IN on the top right hand corner of the home page.

At the SIGN IN page, enter your username and password. In most cases, this will be the same as your CPD video streaming login. If you are unaware of either or both details, click on Unknown username or password? and follow the prompts.

If your sign in is successful, it will say WELCOME [NAME] in the top right corner of the home page.

Click on the cog wheel next to your name. This will take you to the Member Dashboard page.

In the General Details section, click on the "upload your CV" button, browse to find your PDF CV on your system and select it.

The CV will then be automatically uploaded to your Find a Barrister profile.

Members can revise and update their CVs using the same approach as required in the future.

The Bar Association will commence promoting the availability of this search facility in the very near future.

In particular, the FAB facility will be demonstrated at the ACC National Conference in Canberra, 16 to 18 November 2016.

Members who wish to do so are encouraged to upload their CVs as soon as possible.

The Law Society of NSW has launched Being Well in the Law, a self-help guide with chapters on lifestyle, dealing with trauma in legal practice, mental health and resilience. Hardcopies of the guide is available from the Law Society Library or you can it online via the Law Society's website

The New Barristers’ committee would like to invite you to attend the November breakfast catch-up at Silks Coffee Shop on Tuesday, 15 November 2016. Drop in for a short (or long) period of time from 8:00am – 9:30am. Kylie Nomchong SC and Kate Eastman SC will be hosting the breakfast.
For RSVP purposes, if you think you might be able to attend please send an email to Glenn Fredericks

In response to feedback received from users of the Find a Barrister (FAB) facility, the Bar Association has introduced a new search field which allows users to identify barristers who have a curriculum vitae available on their profiles. Users will be able to search FAB by this criteria alone or in conjunction with other criteria. Members who wish to add their curriculum vitae to their individual profiles will need to upload a PDF version of their CV (see how to details below).

How to add your cv to your FAB profile - It only takes a few minutes

Log in to the members' section of the Bar Association website, click on MEMBER SIGN IN on the top right hand corner of the home page.

At the SIGN IN page, enter your username and password. In most cases, this will be the same as your CPD video streaming login. If you are unaware of either or both details, click on Unknown username or password? and follow the prompts.

If your sign in is successful, it will say WELCOME [NAME] in the top right corner of the home page.

Click on the cog wheel next to your name. This will take you to the Member Dashboard page.

In the General Details section, click on the "upload your CV" button, browse to find your PDF CV on your system and select it.

The CV will then be automatically uploaded to your Find a Barrister profile.

Members can revise and update their CVs using the same approach as required in the future.

The Bar Association will commence promoting the availability of this search facility in the very near future.

In particular, the FAB facility will be demonstrated at the ACC National Conference in Canberra, 16 to 18 November 2016.

Members who wish to do so are encouraged to upload their CVs as soon as possible.

An event to commemorate the sacrifice and service of the New South Wales legal profession in the First World War will be held at Banco Court on 10 November at 5.00pm. The event, which will be introduced by the chief justice the Hon Tom Bathurst AC, will recount the stories of New South Wales barristers who were involved in the Great War. For more information, see the
flyer

The Permanent Impairment Guidelines Interpretation Group (PI-GIG) was formed in November 2008 to provide expert and considered advice on any anomalies in the NSW Motor Accidents CTP scheme Permanent Impairment Guidelines and AMA4 guides. One of the roles of the PI-GIG is to develop guidance notes to clarify or outline the clinically preferred interpretation of existing guideline provisions for any anomalies, areas which are open to interpretation, or have the potential for inconsistent assessments. The guidance notes may be found on the SIRA website.

Responses will be collated for a period of six months following the date of launch of the guidance note and presented to the Permanent Impairment Guidelines Interpretation Group for further consideration.

Members are invited to a breakfast panel discussion with ArbitralWomen on "Arbitration in China and the Asia-Pacific Region" on Thursday, 24 November 2016 from 7.30am – 9.00am (discussion starts at 7.45am) in 7 Wentworth / Selborne Chambers Meeting Room, 1st Floor, 174 Phillip Street. As this is a free event, registrations are essential by 11 November 2016 to soars@7thfloor.com.au. Light breakfast refreshments will be served. Counsel's Chambers Ltd is a sponsor of the event.

The 2016 Francis Gurry Public Lecture on Intellectual Property will be held on 22 November 2016 at 6.15pm to 7.45pm in the Wesley Conference Centre, 220 Pitt Street, Sydney. The topic will be "What does a good IP system look like? Good for whom?" Intellectual property is of increasing commercial significance and governments are asking how to ensure that the IP system is fit for purpose and meeting its objectives. Pippa Hall will use economic theory and evidence, and the UK's experiences of reforming its IP regimes, to discuss what a good IP system looks like (and for whom it is good).
Register here.

Generous sized room available in Phillip Street location

We invite expressions of interest to either purchase or licence a well-appointed room at Tenth Floor St James Hall Chambers – a small, well regarded set of Chambers located in an ideal position on Phillip Street.

The room is of generous size with a large window and comes fitted with sleek wooden shelving and a robing cupboard.